That was the question posed by my sister when I posted on Facebook. My daughter has finished kindergarten, my firstborn is done with third grade. Along with the last day at school, they brought home a ton of paperwork, lots of leftover school supplies, back packs and lunch boxes which we won't need till August. I realized I that I bumped right up to summer without much of a plan.
I declared that the rest of the week would be carefree with fairly unlimited game and and television time. I sorted through the paperwork and tossed a good portion, then set the rest aside to file. The school supplies went into the supply box, in the closet in the hall. This isn't a great place and I need to make them more accessible for summer activities. Backpacks went onto the hooks by the garage, but I need to store them along with the jackets we no longer need. In the short term, I've taken care of everything and I've got ideas to create more structure for our summer days.
Do you keep all the papers, crafts and artwork that your children bring home? How do you store it? How do you manage the summer schedule? What changes in your family?
We do the same thing when they first get out of school. Lots of TV and gaming for the first couple days then I lower the boom. In the summer they aren't allowed to turn on anything that plugs in until 4 o'clock every day. It's hard at first but they get used to it and if I don't do it they turn into bratty tyrants. This way they actually play with each other. We work together for 15 minutes in the morning doing some sort of worksheet and that's it. Other than that the rule is 'let me know if someone is bleeding' - other than that they have to entertain themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe art work is tough. Honestly, I pretend like I keep it all but usually just save 10 or so pieces for each kid. I have a big rubber maid container it goes in.
When my kids were younger,I got them each a 3-ring binder. To determine what would make it into the binder, I would lay out five to ten pictures or pieces of school work at a time,and ask them which was their favorite (or made them most proud). That one would make it into the binder, and if I also hade one I liked, then I reserved the right to have a "mommy choice" too. That way, each year was well-represented without overwhelming us with papers. We keep the binders in a filing cabinet in the basement now. The kids used to love looking through them, and now I'm the one looking through them!
ReplyDeleteYou know what would be great? To bind their works of art in a frame and then hang the framed piece of art on the walls of your parlor. In this way, the works are treasured by you, praised by guests, and loved by the children and they get encouraged to engage themselves in more such activities. What say?
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